


Silent Hill: Ailment

by TheGreatKateen



Category: Silent Hill (Video Game Series)
Genre: Elements of Paganism, Gen, Otherworld, Over Zealous Groups, Spiritual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:40:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23587780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatKateen/pseuds/TheGreatKateen
Summary: Ember Montgomery awakens in the town of Silent Hill, with not a notion as to what brought her there. When she is captured by the Missionary and presented to Claudia Wolf, the priestess begins to covet her, truly believing there is more to the girl than what seems. Ember is then cast into a journey of self-discovery, amidst heinous spiritual warfare between The Order and The Brethren.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	1. Silent Hill

Fear pulsed through her body as she lay on the cool pavement.  
  
Ember Montgomery, aged seventeen years, struggled to draw in breath as her eyes peeled themselves open. Every cell within her very body ached. Her skull felt heavy and weighted-down. Legs felt utterly as if they were composed of gelatin. Her muscles felt stretched and her fingers were numb. Red hair was matted in all directions, causing a ball of hair to form at the back of her neck. Too frightened to move her body, she slowly reached an arm up and wiped hair from her face. No pain. Her arms bore no pain to them, but the bottom half of her was the exact opposite.  
  
Darkness filled her pupils, surprising her heavily. Night had fallen over the Earth.  
  
Her knees had been skinned, even through the tight jeans that contained her skinny legs. Her elbows the same, the skin having been scraped violently as she had hit the pavement, her thick sweater creating no true protection.  
  
No matter how much she put her mind to it, she could not remember what had happened.  
"What the hell?" she whispered to no one as she lay sprawled. She rolled her head to the right side, only to find her smart phone lying idle next to her. The screen had been shattered.  
"No," she said, as she quickly reached out and grabbed it.  
Holding it before her face proved only that it was indeed ruined and completely useless. Her fingers pressed buttons quickly, the keys not even beeping as they normally did when they were dialed. The phone was now a piece of junk. It was nothing but a piece of plastic. Ember slammed it back onto the ground angrily.  
Knowing that she had to figure out what had gone wrong, she began to sit up. She got on her knees without an immense level of pain, just a few twangs of it here-and-there on her lower half. She sat idle for a moment, on her hands and knees. Her head hung between her arms as they supported her, hair resting in front of her face, blocking her view of the darkness. Forcing herself upright, pain shot through her back, and she cried out as she straightened herself on her feet. Once she was able to stand upright without the feeling of falling over, she bent down and scooped up her dead cell phone. She pushed it deep into her back pocket and scanned her surroundings.  
Taking a good look around concluded that she was in the center of a road. Pine trees thickly coated both sides of the road. A little frightened, Ember turned in a circle, observing everything around her. The moon, a brilliant crescent, hung high above the tree tops. The pines swayed in the breeze, their shadows dancing everywhere around her, confusing her into thinking that there was some animal waiting to pounce on her.  
She knew nothing of where she was, or what she was even doing there. She couldn't figure out why she had been lying in the middle of a road, either. Nothing seemed right at that moment. No matter how much she attempted, she couldn't bring forth the memories of what she had been doing before it had happened. The road was silent, so desolate that she questioned wheather or not she was indeed dreaming.  
Taking deep inhales, she paused when she noticed a shadow figure standing beside the road, just ahead. Finding the right footing, she began to head towards it. Her feet like jell-o, she still managed to stay upright. The possibility that it could be an eyewitness to past events made her stomach turn. She held her hands as she strode, reaching for anything she could grab on to. If it was a person, she didn't care who it was, she was already planning on weeping on them.  
The shadow was no person.  
It was a road sign.  
The sign stood on the right side of the road, beside a guard rail. More pines inhabited the hillside that ducked down opposite the guard rail. Ember halted for a moment to study it. It was older, obviously, for half of the paint was chipping and the wood mostly rotted. But it was not so rotted that it deemed it ineligible.  
_Welcome to Silent Hill_.  
Ember half gasped. "Silent Hill?"  
It was a town she had only heard of by eavesdropping on her parents conversations. They often spoke of the town shrilly, but she could never understand why. Ember hugged herself. Although Silent Hill was territory she had never set foot in, it was a town, nevertheless. She could inquire about receiving help getting back home.  
Ember swallowed, took a deep breath, and took one step, passing the sign. Beside the fact she knew she had never stepped foot in such a place before, she could not deny the small sensation of familiarity that rose in her core.


	2. Fetch

Claudia Wolf was not used to praying so late into the night. In fact, praying any time between the hours of Eight PM and Seven AM was considered taboo, and utterly off schedule. Claudia was certain that she had had a vision from God in her dreams, and she had immediately sprang from bed. She quickly slipped into her usual outfit of black, and scooted quietly down the corridors of the church to the chapel. She walked with quick steps, for the sound of her bare feet was practically muffled.   
  
She set to prayer immediately. She sat posed on her knees , hands folded, head bowed. Seconds became minutes, and minutes became God-welcoming hours. By the time the suns rays began to cast through the vibrant stained-glass windows, Claudia was unsure if she was finished. Routine sounds of the early morning became audible.  
  
Time soon became of the essence, and Claudia knew that she must finish. She whispered one last thank you to the God, and rose. Her legs felt tight and stiff from hours of praying. Her body demanding nourishment, she crossed through the chapel, and into the small, cramped kitchen. She hastily prepared herself a glass of wine, and took a few slices of bread, and set straight to work on her scriptures.  
  
She had all but bitten into a piece of the soft bread, when one of her fellow members of the highest respect in her sect, Vincent Smith, entered the chapel through the back.

"Had a late night, did we, Priestess?" Vincent asked.

Claudia scoffed and set her bread down. She was in the middle of writing what she considered one of her most intelligent scriptures, and in strides this curate. He was always interrupting her when she was most busy. She gripped her quill angrily.

"Do you have anything more productive to do then constantly interrupt me?" she hissed.  


Vincent chuckled. "I'm afraid not." He strode down the aisle and halted before the altar. He placed one hand on his hip, and examined the fingernails on his free hand. “I’ve come to inform you of the newcomer to Silent Hill."

Claudia sniffled. "Liar," she mumbled. "There are no newcomers."

Vincent shook his head. Claudia had always been hard headed. Even as a child who endured cruel punishments from her father, she never ceased to be headstrong. There indeed was a newcomer, and he felt that as a Priest of the Order, it was among his duties to inform Claudia of any possible dangers. Although he couldn't bear to be in the same room with her for the majority of the time. Claudia was astute, she knew that he wouldn't have mentioned it if there wasn't truth to it. If there was one sinful act Vincent knew to avoid, it was lying to her. 

"Indeed there is," Vincent replied smoothly. "I saw her myself."

Claudia quirked the area of her face where an eyebrow was supposed to be. It had been one of her father's ridiculous ideas that she rid of her eyebrows. "Her?" she asked, standing from her seat. She smirked. Quite some time had passed since an outside female had stepped foot in Silent Hill. “Was it-” 

“No need to get excited,” Vincent deadpanned. “It is not the Holy One.”

“Of course not,” Claudia muttered to herself. “The time is not yet at hand.” 

Seven years had passed since Silent Hill had received any newcomers, the last being a man named James Sunderland. Who of which the Order knew his presence in the town. But he played no part in the path to Paradise, so Claudia had ordered all her followers to let him be. 

In years previous of even that, groups of outsider teenagers would show up in town. From concealment in the fog, Claudia would observe these young people. How unruly and carefree they were. She would watch as they took cans of paint to the buildings, set fires, and pocketed whatever they pleased. Claudia came to discover how people acted outside Silent Hill and it left her disgusted. Silent Hill was her hometown and she had wanted it preserved as much as possible. 

She doubted heavily that one girl would enter the town with the notion of defacing the buildings. No, the girl had to have purpose. 

“Vincent,” Claudia began. “I would say that things around here have become rather..... bland. Wouldn’t you?” she asked. 

Not fond of change, yet knowing she wasn’t truly asking his opinion, he stood idly. Claudia doted on her followers trust, and disagreeing with her was not a thing of true trust. Vincent was the only one in the entire sect with enough backbone to even attempt it when he sought fit. This was not one of those situations. 

“I suppose so,” he replied flatly.

Claudia turned to face the menagerie of lit candles that flickered on the altar. She bowed her head. 

_Come to me, my child_. 

Her spine began to tingle as the air surrounding them began to stale. The stench of rotting meat then began to waft into the chapel. She found the stink to be refreshing- it had been far too long. 

Low, guttural growls began to sound from the back of the chapel. Claudia smiled again. 

She whirled on her heel to face him, her most loyal follower. 

She made direct eye contact with the Missionary. The creature lacked eyesight, yet possessed the perception to know when she rested her gaze on him. Claudia need not gaze upon him at all, no matter where he resided, he could hear her. 

“Fetch,” she commanded.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Claudia is my baby, don't come for her in the comments


	3. Captured

Ember pressed forward, detaining her confusion-induced fear as much as she could. Her thought process seemed to be driving her mad as a million questions zoomed around inside her head. Supressing them to the best of her ability, she briskly walked on, hoping the town wasn’t too far away.   


Much to her dismay, the further from the sign she went, the thicker the fog got. Visibility lessened and lessened until, at one point, it became absent altogether. Afraid she would accidentally run into something-or someone- she was cautious about her steps. She hugged the faded yellow road lines to the best of her ability.   


About a sixteenth of a mile past the welcome sign, Ember came to a road sign that was bent. By this time the fog was so thick that the sun’s rays could not cast trough it, but rather illuminated it into a smokey-white hue, rather than grayish. She had to walk righ up to it to read it properly. 

_Nathan Avenue_. 

She moved forward. Keeping to the center of the road as she headed north, the fog being so thick, she was unable to see anything on either side of the road. Easily she could have passed dozens of buildings and not known it. Thing was, she was too apprehensive to veer off Nathan and find herself lost. She had nary a clue as to how big Silent Hill really was.   


The thing that unnerved her the most about the town was that the deeper she headed into it, the less hopeful she became about finding other people. The town was quiet, too quiet, at that. All that was audible were the thick rubber heels of her combat boots as they trudged along the road, every few minutes she’d head crows caw off in the distance. But there was no signs of cars traveling along, no sounds of people conversing, not even the occasional bark of a dog behind a fence- at least one person had to have a dog. 

Silent Hill was a dead town. 

Surprisingly, she hadn’t run into any stoplights, either. Didn’t all towns have at least one stoplight?  


About half a mile down, her eyes began to make out the shape a large billboard-style sign. It towered thirty feet off the ground and was near ten feet wide. 

Approaching it, she felt a sweep of relief as her eyes beheld a giant red arrow, pointing west, the words _Jack’s Inn_ above it. 

She entered an area that was surrounded by lengthy, rectangular motel buildings, two stories high each, with iron staircases. Not one single person could be found. Perhaps they were all huddled in their rooms. Keeping to the buildings, she read off every room number. The curtains were drawn in every room, too, and she couldn’t even see in. The idea that perhaps the town was on some sort of official lockdown came to mind, but as she progressed and the room numbers got higher, the worse condition the buildings were becoming. One of the doors had bullet holes in it. Another room had its window smashed out, the red curtain blew in the gentle breeze. 

She shuddered. Who knows who could have done that. 

Eventually she found a small flight of iron stairs. On the building was a sign that pointed up, marking the front office. 

She jogged up the stairs and went straight for the door. 

Only to be disappointed. 

The door had a series of entwined chains in front of it, blocking it completely off. A padlock the size of her fist secured the chains tightly. 

“Well, shit,” she said. 

Feeling defeated, she hung her head, and went back down the stairs. She retraced her steps as best as she could and continued her way down Nathan.   
Not even five minutes had passed and she located a gas station sign. Oddly enough, the sign was not functioning and half the letters were hanging off. She could make out Texxon Gas. The inn may have been closed for renovations, maybe even health code violations, she didn’t know. 

She went to a gas pump. The gas grade buttons were not illuminated- none of the pumps were. Swallowing she advanced toward the buildings shape in the fog. Much like the inn, the gas station’s windows had been smashed. Her boots crunched loudly on broken glass as she approached the door. She was able to push it open, and stepped in. 

Empty. Of people, anyway. 

The interior was disgustingly dirty. It reeked of mold. The tiled floor had begun to sag in some places, holding little pools of green water. There were shelves and display cases scattered everywhere. Some product was left, though, and Ember’s curiosity got the best of her. There was a shelf that still held a few bags of candy. She plucked one up and blew the dust from the plastic it was bagged in. It was a bag of breath mints, unopened, although had been expired for nearly ten years. 

_I must be fucking crazy_ , she thought as she tore the bag open. Even after all those years of sitting on the shelf collecting dust, the seals on the bag were still quite strong. She became a little hopeful of the situation when she discovered that the mints were individually wrapped. She selected one from the bag and plopped it into her mouth. Not exactly was she hungry, either, it was more of a distraction. 

It was like she had purchased a brand new bag of starlight mints from the market. The candies had held their flavor well. She slid them into her back pocket and moved around the candy shelf to the back of the store. Ten coolers which once lit up lined the backmost wall. Taking in every one of them slowly, she strode down the line.   


In the very last cooler, she came across a single bottle of water. 

The coolers themselves were coated in rust, and some of them were smeared with a moist mold. 

Frowning, she took the bottle from the cooler and wiped it all over her jeans. She then broke the seal on the cap, and careful as to not touch the bottle to her tongue at all, poured a small amount to the back of her throat. She swallowed heavily. The liquid was warm, and it had absorbed the chemical taste from the bottle, but it was water, nonetheless. It would keep her hydrated while she figured everything out. 

Next she made her way behind the counter.   
The cash register lay in shambles on the floor behind the desk. There were a few flyers practically rotted to the floor with the moisture. She never expected to find any money, either. Even if she had, where would she use it? She went along opening drawers and cabinets. She even check to see if the restroom was useable. There was toilet paper left, but it was dusty and had spiderwebs all over it. Not too mention the toilet was clogged to the top with repulsive matter.   


She scoured every inch of the gas station. Just as she was about to give up, back in the security office, she scored a heavy-duty flashlight. The thing weighed a good five pounds. When she flipped the switch, the beam casted out and then flickered for a moment. She gave it a good shake, hoping to somehow recharge the batteries back to life. Her feat was successful and the beam stayed on.   


She headed back to the streets.   


The fog swirled around her, encasing her like a blanket. She wrapped her arms around herself and turned down a street that was lacking a street sign. It indeed was once a popular street, for each side was lined with small shops, restaurants. Mailboxes were spread every block or so. Silent Hill must have been a nice little resort town back-in-the-day, but what had happened to all of it's residents? She wondered. Most importantly, of all the places in the world to wake up clueless, why had it been here? 

Ember noticed a familiar white sign that bore a red cross, with the letter ‘H’ below it. There was a hospital just a few blocks down the road. The possibility that there were people there was one-in-a-million, but Ember was cold and confused, and chose to try it anyway. She had already been through enough, what with waking up in the middle of the road out in the back-road wilderness and all; she wasn't about to let her fear of hospitals stop her. Still she pushed on, determined to get to the bottom of things.

From the exterior, the building marked Brookhaven Hospital was smaller than one would think, but was once well-cared for. It was surrounded by three stone walls, all approximately ten feet high. A vintage iron gate swung in the breeze where the walls met before the entrance to the lobby. The grass had not been cut for what seemed like years, but the numerous over-grown flower gardens that decorated the proximity of the terrace- along with a variety of trees and shrubs- led anyone to belive that Brookhaven was once the most prestigious place in Silent Hill. But everything was beyond the help of a gardener. Even if there was a gardener left in Silent Hill, they wouldn't be enough to re-populate the whole town’s greenery, or even care for it by their lonesome. 

Ember stood outside of Brookhaven, just observing the entrance. No lights could be seen through the windows, no movement visible. She hadn't even entered the place, and already her mind began to trick her with images. Abandoned gurneys, patient clothing left in odd places, doctors tools sprawled over floors. Being nervous on a trip to the ER because you broke your arm was one thing, but Ember had a straight up fear. She didn't like the look, feel or even the smell of hospitals, and yet here she was, about to enter one willingly.

Her ears rang as she stepped up to the heavy metal doors. She quickly grasped the handle and pulled outward, revealing that the doors were unlocked and she was able to enter with ease. She held her breath as she stepped inside. The door clicked shut behind her and she exhaled. She held her eyes tightly closed until the noise of the door shutting dispersed and she was alone in silence. Taking slow breaths, she opened her eyes. She flipped on her flashlight.   
The interior was cleaner than she expected. A few mud smudges remained spread across the hideous black and white tiled floor, but only in specific places such as in front of doorways. Her eyes passed over the door to the front office, then over to the two hallways that split the entrance.

All was silent.

Ember moved forward, around the left corner.

Her mind proved right, at the end of the hallway, a rusted gurney sat beside two double doors. Considering all of the bloodied, sick, and dead people that had been transported on such a contraption made her shiver. She studied it to make sure that there was nothing on it. It was bare.

"Hello?" she whispered down the empty hallways. Her voice seemed to bounce off the walls and head back toward her. "Anyone here?" She swallowed. "I need some help," she declared.

Nothing. Not a single sound was heard.   


_Useless. There's no one here_ , she thought. _There's no one anywhere._   


The feeling of utter loneliness became too much, and she pushed through a door. She had entered an office of some sort. There was a solid oak desk in the corner, heaps of medical records spilling out of manila folders on its surface. A med chart hung behind the desk, the writing on it so faded it was no longer legible. A granite counter lined two meeting corners in the back of the office. Upon it was a bloodied gauze wrap, it's fibers soaked with brown festering blood. Beside the bloody mess of fibers, was a bronze key, not exactly strategically placed. Ember picked it up and observed it.

It was nothing but a plain bronze key. Pocketing the key she pressed onward, searching through a medicine cabinet. Finding nothing useful, she fled the room.  


Once back in the hall, Ember discovered that the air had grown chill. Every breath she took was visible as she exhaled. It was like being outside in below freezing temperatures. It had been decently warm just minutes before, and here it was, cold. Ember wandered the halls until she discovered a blue door that marked the staircase, and she took it.

She ascended all the way to the third floor and entered. The temperature was warmer up there, and Ember felt her senses relax as she moved from door-to-door, checking the locks on all of them. Adjacent from the stairwell exit lied two double doors. Thinking that their could be doctors or other humans on the opposite side, she attempted to open them. She pressed the bars down, only to have them snap back up and click into place. Puzzled, Ember squinted her face, then activated the bars again, pushing heavily on the doors. She rammed her shoulder into them, knocking them open. She fell through the doorway and landed on the cool stone floor. Coughing because of dust, she pushed herself to her feet and headed for the only place that was feasible to go, down the corridor. She counted twelve doors that lined the left wall, each was locked. On the right she counted four doors. Silently she went to each door and tried the bronze key. None of them worked. They key seemed too big for any of the locks she had tried. It probably was the key to something on the second floor, but the second floor door had been locked, and the key had even been too big for that door, too. Ember sighed at the failed attempt to open the last door on the third floor, and placed her forehead to it.  


"It's no use," she cried. 

For the first time she felt like crying. Her eyes filled with tears, but only a few managed to escape. They traveled down her cheeks, only to run off the tip of her nose and hit the floor. She stood against the door for a few moments, breathing.

Immediately she thought of her mother. Her father, too. Where were they? Did they know she was alive? Would they search for her?

Of course they would. 

They were the Montgomerys, and family was the most important thing to them. Ember knew that her mother was probably driving herself insane over the fact that she was missing. Her parents had struggled to have a baby their whole marriage, until one special autumn day. They had attended the Brahms carnival when it had been in town. Ember’s mother, fascinated with the occult, had paid a visit to the traveling fortune teller. The woman had predicted a pregnancy, only to upset Ember’s parents. Nine months later, Ember had been born. And she had been the most precious thing in either of their lives, and they undeniably spoiled her rotten. 

"Mom?" Ember whispered to no one. "If you can hear me, I'm still here."

But there was no answer. Just the silence of Brookhaven Hospital. The same silence that hung over the town of Silent Hill.

Or so she thought.

As Ember regained her wits enough to move on, she heard a noise.

It was a loud scraping noise, metal-upon-metal, and it was above her head. The racket was followed by footsteps. Remembering that the staircase had not ended at the third floor, she bolted from the Solitary corridor, and rammed out into the stairway. She rushed up two flights of stairs before she skidded to a halt before an immense black door. After catching her breath, she pressed her ear to the door, listening for any sounds.

The footsteps came again.

Just imagining what kind of person it could have been, Ember smiled. She grasped the handle and turned it. It would not turn. With one swift movement, she swiped the bronze key from her pocket, and eased into the lock. Perfect fit. She praised herself as she turned the lock, and the door creaked open.

She stepped out slowly, prepared for absolutely anything. As she emerged from the stairwell, wind whipped through her hair, causing the red tendrils to fly in her face. The noises had ceased. She pressed herself to the surface of the outside of the black door, careful as to not shut it behind her.

She was once again outside. But this time, she was surrounded by darkness.

One day.

Ember had been away from home for one whole day, and she had not found one other human, just a bunch of abandoned buildings and some useless items. She must have been inside the hospital for longer than she had thought, for it was pitch black out. However, one dusk-to-dawn light illuminated the roof. All that was visible was the gray floor as it spread outward toward the street. A few empty crates were off to the side, and the corners were doused in blackness.

The noises began again. This time coming from the leftmost corner of the roof. Ember winced as the noise grew louder in her ears. It became so loud that she felt as if her ears would bleed. This was the noise of metal being violently scraped upon stone.

It was followed by a low growl.

And out it stepped.

It, indeed, for Ember had not a clue what it was. The creature stood approximately ten feet tall, towering over Ember's mere five-foot-four. A human-like body supported a large head, concealed beneath sacking. The creature was wrapped in sheet material, creating makeshift clothing. It grasped two, lengthy blades. 

Ember screamed when she saw it. It was something she could only imagine in her nightmares. She let out her high-pitched wail, loud enough that if there was someone in Silent Hill somewhere, they'd hear it. Her voice echoed off of many different objects, returning to her various times. She inhaled and held her breath, readying to let loose another cry of terror. It advanced on her, drawing back it's arm. It swung straight out, missing Ember's head by a mere inch or so. Ember cried out again and dropped to the floor. Her flashlight tumbled to the ground and rolled. She landed heavily on her stomach. Her guts sloshed and she thought she'd let loose bile, but suppressed the very urge. The monster thrust it's arm downward, Ember rolled from range. When she rolled, she smacked her head against one of the crates. She cried out quietly, groping the back of her skull with her hand.

She rolled again, dodging another attempt to thrust the blade inside her gullet. With a deep breath, Ember pushed upward with her palms, sending her up on her feet. Completely confused and unknowledgeable on how to successfully survive an attack by a monster that couldn't possibly be real, Ember felt trapped.   
But Ember was determined to live. Ducking low one last time, she threw her weight forward, and tossed her feet upward. Once her hands touched the cool stone floor, she arched her back and flung her feet outward. They struck the creature in it's head-like top, sending it falling. It was something Ember had never done before, and the fact that she rolled over herself and landed in a crouching position only brought upon feelings of pride. The monster hissed, and regained it's stance.

Ember stood idly, ready for anything.   
The monster began to aimlessly wander around the rooftop. Silently, she observed as it swung its blades back and forth, almost like the motion a blind man moved his cane in.

Mind boggling with wonder, she withdrew her shattered cell phone from her pocket and she whipped it across the rooftop. It landed and bounce two or three times before falling still. At that, the creature growled again and whipped over to the spot her phone now lay. 

It was blind.   
She eyed the roof door carefully. If she could just inch to it without alerting the monster, she could escape back into the building. The darkness of the hospital would conceal her so she could find a proper hiding spot. 

Unfortunately, she took one slow step back, and her boot landed on a pebble. The pebble moved slightly, and the creature’s head shot around. Ember bound for the door. Reaching out to grasp the handle, the monster was on her. He swung his blades in a fashion where one of them got hung up on Ember’s boot, causing her to be lifted from the ground with the monster’s hefty strength. Her body twisted in mid air. She landed head-first onto the stone ground. All she could see was the creature lean over her as her eyes fluttered closed and she lost consciousness. 


End file.
